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Once Upon a Time (game)
Once Upon a Time is a card game produced by Atlas Games, originally released in 1994 with a second edition published in 1995. One object of Once Upon a Time is to tell a fairy tale as a group. While the story is developed by the whole group, the competitive aspect of the game is that each player has an individual goal of using all of the "Storytelling" cards he or she has in hand, and finishing the story with their own special "Happy Ever After" card. Only one player at a time is the current storyteller, giving him or her a chance to play their Storytelling cards, while the other players have a chance to "interrupt" the story and become the storyteller if, for example, the storyteller mentions something on one of the interrupting player's cards. Gameplay Each player is dealt a hand of cards that represent story elements: objects, people, events, and "aspects" often involved in fairy tales (for instance, there are cards for "crown", "key", "stepmother", "a death", "time passes", "sleeping", et cetera). These "Storytelling" cards represent ingredients of a fairy tale, i.e. words or phrases that are likely to appear in fairy tales. From a different deck of cards, each player is also dealt a single "Happy Ever After" ending card, to be kept secret from other players until it is used. The object of the game for each player is to use their cards in telling a story, finishing the story by using their Happy Ever After card. One player at a time is the storyteller. (The rules suggest the starting storyteller could be the "player with the longest beard", or any other method upon which the players agree.[http://www.atlas-games.com/pdf_storage/ouat_rulebook.pdf Once Upon a Time game rules]) Whenever a story ingredient is mentioned, if any player has a Storytelling card for that ingredient, he or she can play it and become (or continue being) the storyteller. A player may be required to draw extra Storytelling cards (for example, when they are the storyteller and are interrupted by another player who becomes the new storyteller, or if he or she hesitates for too long while telling the story). If the storyteller ends the story with the ending on their Happy Ever After card, and is out of cards, he or she wins. Players are expected to cooperate (to some extent) in order to avoid contradictions in the story as it develops, for the story to make sense, and (according to the rulebook) that any ending to the story is "satisfying". Expansions Dark Tales is a set of extra cards featuring 'darker' plot elements, such as "trolls under bridges" and evil mothers-in-law. One reviewer stated that when using this expansion "fiends stalk the deck, and characters are haunted or followed by murderers". These cards, or a subset of them, are intended to be shuffled into the original deck. Decks of blank cards are also available, for people to add their own story elements. Awards and critical reception In his essay on the game, British author and game designer Marc Gascoigne stated that Once Upon a Time is "one of the best ways had ever found to grab a non-gamer by their imagination and fling them into our world". Once Upon a Time was named to ''Games'' magazine's Best Family Card Game section in the 1997 ''Games'' 100 list.Atlas Games Once Upon a Time homepage. In 1999 Pyramid magazine named Once Upon a Time as one of The Millennium's Best Card Games and also as one of The Millennium's Most Underrated Games. Editor Scott Haring stated "the game's just as good for kids as it is for adults." Commenting on the second edition, reviewer Derek Pearcy said the game "is a brilliant example of what we should be getting in this new game market" and "not only is this game easy to learn, not only is it fast, fun, and an Idea Whose Time Has Come, but ... girls think it rocks" commenting upon "the occasional insulting lip-service game companies have paid to their female readership." See also *''The Extraordinary Adventures of Baron Münchausen'' - Another story-telling game, also designed by James Wallis. *''Talecraft'' - A story-creating card game with some comparable game mechanics. *''Nanofictionary'' - Another story-creating card game; created by Looney Labs, the creator of Fluxx. References External links * [http://www.atlas-games.com/product_tables/AG1001.php Once Upon A Time homepage] at Atlas Games * Category:Dedicated deck card games Category:Shedding-type card games Category:1994 introductions Category:Atlas Games games eo:Iam estis... fr:Il était une fois... (jeu)